The awesome MR crew and Sprint Challenge drivers had a positive test day prior to the weekend and were looking forward to racing at one of our home tracks (in addition to Carrera Cup at Surfers in October) so we were optimistic of some impressive results.
Kamal was satisfied, if not happy with his 3rd row quali position and had a solid race 1, running as high as 4th before dropping to 8th, then making 2 places back from other’s penalties.
He had a solid race 2 running a handy 6th on the last lap before running off at turn 4 costing him 10 positions outright.
In the 45 minute ‘enduro’ Kamal started back on the 8th row, passing 4 cars on lap 1 then another 4 by the end of race 3.
Daniel had a good start off the front row in race 1 until being punted into the fence on the last lap while running 2nd.
In race 2 he started 19th and made great progress up to 7th.
In race 3 he started 9th and had another impressive comeback drive to 4th for the final race of the weekend, the Jim Richards Enduro.
Like his weekend at The Bend, Gilbo simply dominated Pro-Am, starting by finishing 7th outright in race 1!
Race 2 started on a damp but drying track and his plan was to simply survive but that still ended up as another win with a 5 second winning margin.
In race 3 Gilbo dominated again to take another win, this time with a 6 second margin.
Kent had a great first race eventually taking 5th, but most importantly, to prove his impressive development and progress, his best lap time was a 1:12.57 compared to Gilbo’s best of 1:12.00.
In race 2 he picked up a 15 second penalty for a safety car infringement which effected his starting spot for race 3, which was another 45 minutes of great racing experience.
Tim had another impressive qualifying run taking 4th before charging up to 2nd in race 1 to make it an MR 1-2 result in Pro-Am.
We were confident of another great result in race 2 but unfortunately, he moved to the inside line to make a pass at turn 1 at the start but got onto the wet apex kerb which spun the car around.
Worst yet, as he tried to straighten the car to continue, one of the Pro drivers carrying a penalty from race 1 hit the back of his car in a massive impact doing significant damage to both cars.
Congrats again to Gilbo for another stellar weekend in Pro-Am and his 8th win from 9 races. Tim paid a high price for a small mistake in race 2 which likely cost him his first Sprint Challenge podium. Kent’s penalty in race 2 probably cost him a crack at his second straight podium, but his lap times were impressive enough to prove that with a bit of luck our three Pro-Ams could take a 1-2-3 podium sweep before the end of the year - if all the stars align!
Daniel learned a lot from being punted off while running 2nd in the last lap of race 1, we can guarantee; that won’t happen again! And while he did nothing wrong (apart from the last lap of race 2) Kamal just seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, so as soon as his luck changes, we know he can get back to the front.
Next up, sunny Townsville in 4 weeks.